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Housewife Makes Good Ready ?╟÷' GO/// Little League for a 12-year old son.,. Fifteen minutes to get across daughter?╟╓s ballet and piano lessons...Lessons over and thirty minutes to get dinner on the table and off to perform. What a life? It sounds impossible, but for Janelle, starring in PINUPS Sahara Reno?╟╓s Gilded Cage Cabaret, it's the best of all possible worlds. To see the expertise and finesse of such a young and beautiful performer, you?╟╓d never guess herstagelife has to wait inline behind a baseball mother, managing a star of tomorrow and, oh yes, bei SHOWTIME. How do you stay in shape for your rigorous role in "Pinups"? JANELLE: Since I?╟╓ve been here I just try to take real good care of myself and try to get 8 or 9 hours of sleep. Otherwise it tells in my voice. It gets raspy. I try to eat the right kinds of foods... You have to eat good healthy foods and get a lot of rest. After I get settled with my family I want to start taking ballet lessons again. JANELLE; Yes, my whole life has been occupied by learning my trade. To achieve any degree of success, it has to be a lifetime proposition of building. SHOWTIME: How does that coincide with being married and raising children? JANELLE: What I mean by life is my youth. I did very little dating and running around partying as a teenager. I used to go straight from high school to ballet school. I would dance all afternoon, then go home and do homework and go to bed early. SHOWTIME: Is it difficult to have a satisfactory family life and succeed as a performer? JANELLE: Not for me. That was because when I was younger and had just begun my career in Vegas, I had told my husband from the start that if we would get married, he and our family would always come first. So that?╟╓s the way it has stayed. He?╟╓s also in the business, which is good, because he really understands what I?╟╓m going through and it helps me immensely... My husband was my Flamenco teacher. SHOWTIME: What?╟╓s your husband?╟╓s opinion of the show you?╟╓re in now? JANELLE: He really likes it. SHOWTIME: Would you consider "Pinups" to be a high point in your career? JANELLE: (hesitation)You know what? It is. It really is. I didn?╟╓t think it would be since I?╟╓ve done big shows for so many years. I?╟╓ve been the lead singer at times and then the lead dancer at other times. But in the big shows there are two things that really aren?╟╓t the best situations for me ?╟÷ you?╟╓re either a singer or a dancer and automatically categorized "Pinups" is the first show that I have been able to sing and dance. And the big shows, they call you a star, but this is the first time I?╟╓ve actually had my name on the marquee. It?╟╓s really nice! Another hazard of a big show is that seldom do the performers get any recognition. (Ed. note?╟÷Try to name a performer in the biggest show in town, and the lion isn't a Union member so he doesn ?╟╓t count . Just don?╟╓t I said so.) I?╟╓ve had more recognition in the four and a half weeks that I?╟╓ve been doing this show combining here and in Las Vegas than I?╟╓ve conceivably had in all the other shows combined. SHOWTIME: How does performing in a lounge differ from a larger showroom? JANELLE: You can see your audience and you can play to them and see their reactions. You actually feel that you?╟╓re playing to people whereas on a larger stage the audience appears as a black void. SHOWTIME: Do you find it difficult to adjust to this newly found reality of an audience? Started with ballet and I think it really conditions yoUrJ JANELLE: Oh no. It?╟╓s been a pleasant transition. When ?╟ -'?√ß?╟ ?╟úH' 11 I ------- body the best of all forms of dance SHOWTIME; When did you first get involved with dance? JANELLE: I started with tap and acrobatic ballet when I was four years old. SHOWTIME: When did the voice lessons begin? JANELLE: I started singing with operatic coaching when I was about eighteen. I learned to sing with a very high sopranic quality. I decided I wouldn't be able to use that semi-operatic tone in the type of Vegas/Broadway career I wanted to pursue. So I tried pop-type singing to lower my voice. SHOWTIME: It sounds as if your life has been devoted tp training for show business? Jerry Jackson and Jimmie Dean first approached me to do "Pinups" in a lounge, I immediately thought, ?╟ Oh dear! A lounge!?╟╓ A lot of people have a tendency to think it?╟╓s a step down to play a lounge as compared to a big room. I didn?╟╓t think I wanted to do that, but fortunately, they talked me into it. I?╟╓d like to mention that Jerry Jackson just happens to be my favorite choreographer. I did my first show with him and staying with him has been a very positive factor in my getting this far. SHOWTIME: Does this show differ much from the original "Pinups?" JANELLE: Jerry decided I was. reminiscent of Cyd Charisse because I?╟╓m tajl and have black hair. I used to study With her teacher 'and first Tiust5and Nico Charisse. In his studio is where I met my husband. So the Charisse dance form is very much instilled in me. In fact, there were three Charisse?╟╓s who were my teachers?╟÷ also, Nanette and Rita. And here I am now doing Cyd! I like to think that our cast is a little more vibrant to an audience than originally. We're very close and every member is a real performer. That is, they make each show an individual challenge to capture the audience. SHOWTIME: What about the third, show in the early morning hours of the weekend? Is that one more difficult to attack head-on? JANELLEz Yes^ but there is still a spirit among us that tries to do the best possible job regardless of our own condition or size of the audience. A lot of performers and casino workers will come to our late/early shows since this is the only time available to them. The other night the cast from "Dancing Machine" came in gave me a standing ovation. I could never have received a thrill like that by being a performer in a large production. It was great! SHOWTIME: What do you think about ?╟ the biggest little city?╟╓? JANELLE: I think the Reno people are great! I had qualms about coming to Reno,.also. I like the city because it?╟╓s a small town with many advantages of a large city. The people are very friendly and, of course, having two kids, I think it?╟╓s the right kind of atmosphere. Probably better than Vegas, since I?╟╓m family oriented. I?╟╓m not a partier or anything like that. I don?╟╓t feel that you can get into that scene and maintain a quality of performance. What keeps me coming in every night and looking happy onstage is quite simple?╟÷ I?╟╓m happy! I?╟╓m very down to earth and home oriented which enables me to approach each performance with a winnina attitude.